By Sarah Szabo

While most folks took to the beaches or dusted off the grill during Memorial Day weekend, I had the opportunity to visit, quite possibly, the coolest place on the planet – Dubai. (Although by ‘cool’ I’m definitely not referring to the weather, which let’s just say is anything but chilly.)

One of the hot spots in the UAE, Dubai has it all – luxury hotels, amazing gold and spice souks, a booming economy and one of the fastest growing technology markets in the world. In fact, the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region boasts a $7 billion annual electronics business. In the UAE alone more than $47 billion has been invested in new, state-of-the-art housing construction. And for anyone in the technology industry looking to expand into the region, that’s an amazing opportunity knocking at their door.

CEA sponsors the largest consumer technology event in Dubai, the International CES/hometech (and the reason I was in Dubai). As the UAE’s consumer technology market grows, so does the CES/hometech. In fact, this year’s show floor doubled in exhibit space over the 2007 event and featured 250 companies – up from 180 exhibitors last year.

Maybe I’m just a tech geek, but while touring the city I couldn’t help but notice the technology industry’s presence in Dubai. Major CE players including LG and Monster Cable have offices here. And there are huge CE retailers here like Sharaf DG and www.jumbocorp.com, which cater to the ever-growing marketplace.

My colleagues who were traveling with me, and had also been to Dubai last year, couldn’t get over how much the region has grown in just one year. Hopefully I get to return one day soon because I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Dubai. Whatever happens, it’s bound to be amazing.

As an added bonus, check out some of my photos from the trip below!

Water Taxis Along the Dubai Creek

Dubai’s Textile Souk

A Dubai Cityscape

International CES/hometech Show Floor

Last Gadget Standing at the CES/hometech

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 9:57 am and is filed under CEA Events. Reply to this post, or trackback from your own site. Follow responses to this entry through the comments RSS feed.